It's official!!

Jonathan is a pastor which makes me a pastor's wife?!?!? And my kids PK's?!?!? Yep, you read that right, Jonathan is planting and pastoring Lakeside Community Church. Now, let me back up and do some explaining.

We have been part of Pillar Church, a church plant, since it began over 3 years ago. We committed for a year and even after moving 45 minutes away, have yet to leave. Pillar is family and after having such a difficult time finding a church to begin with, we decided it was worth the drive. Clint, our pastor, and his family have been a great influences in all of our lives. One day, he told Jonathan he thought he should plant a church out here where we leave. We did not believe he was serious. Us, planting a church?? You guys who know us are probably asking yourselves the same thing and 3 years ago our answer would have been completely different. However, we began to pray about it and Jonathan felt like God was definitely calling him to plant a church in our Locust Grove area.

So, in November, we began meeting with 2 other couples, the Clifton's, and our family for a Bible study and church planting. We had many decisions to make including a church name, our church purpose, etc. We also decided to hold a banquet to share the vision of our church. This was an overwhelming task, but to God, it was nothing. All of our hard work paid off, and Saturday night, January 26, we held the Lakeside Community Church Vision Banquet. We had close to 100 people in attendance including area pastors, Pillar members, Stafford Baptist people, community people, as well as many others. We believed it would be ok, but it turned out way better than we could have imagined. God had more plans for the banquet then we knew!! It was beautiful inside and we had a great praise band from Soul Purpose, one of our sponsor churches. We also had a wonderful friend, Amanda Long, write a song particular to all of us that she played piano for and sang. It was amazing and that is not even a good description!! Thank you, Amanda!

Currently, Lakeside meets on Sunday evenings in a local elementary school. Our official launch will be in September, but we have plenty to do in the meantime. We have many outreaches planned to reach our neighbors in the area. Please pray with us as we begin to see God's plans for Lakeside.

So, that means, that yep, I am now a pastors wife which MANY people keep pointing out to me. Are you guys trying to tell me something???

Hellllloo!!!

It has been awhile since we have posted. Life has been very full around here and looks to stay that way for awhile. The kids are all doing great just very tired from our busy lives. Friday, after arriving home from school, the boys promptly laid out on the couches wrapped in blankets, watched movies, and stayed that way until we made them eat. They would not even get up to talk on the phone. It was funny, but sad that they were so tired. After eating, they went back to their cozy spots and chilled. Needless to say, they were to put to bed early.

Saturday, they were much better and played for awhile. Aunt Wendy and Uncle Matt came over to keep them while Jonathan and I headed to a banquet. Many members of Jonathan's family also came up to attend the banquet so they stopped by to drop off Cara and a quick hello. The kids had lots of fun playing games and hanging out. It was a nice relaxing evening for the kids (not sure about the aunt and uncle:)

Sunday morning, we dropped Jon off at church and met the family for breakfast at McDonald's before we all attended church together. After church, we all ate lunch together, then they headed back to NC and we headed home to get ready for Lakeside Church (this will be another post). We got home and put the kids to bed and it wasn't much after that, we headed to bed too. The kids were not the only ones who were tired.

Jonathan and I are both taking online classes right now. He is enrolled at Liberty University and has a full load. I am taking a class through PBS to renew my teaching license. My class is 6 weeks and quite demanding. I have not taken a college class since graduating in 1996! WOW, is all I have to say. I also have to respect Jon a little more for all the classes he has taken and continues to take.

While we are all tired, Chloe on the other hand seems to never be tired. She is a bundle of constant energy and joy. We put her to bed each night around 7:30 and usually at 9:00, she is still back there talking and singing to herself. Some nights, she even gets in the floor in the dark and plays, but she does not come out of her room. She is rotten!! It is amazing to realize she has been home with us for 9 months!!

Anyway, with all that said, we are very busy, but we'd be bored if we had nothing to do:)) Jon's mom is always surprised to find us at home when she calls since it happens so rarely that we are.

Thought I'd share

I saw this blog on another blog I read. This is a family trying to raise money for an adoption of a little girl from China who is a special needs child. Everything has happened pretty quickly and they are in need of funds quickly. This mom makes adorable dresses (as well as other things) for a pretty decent price. Check out the site here http://www.redthreadstitches.blogspot.com/ I hope you find something you like (I sure did:)) BTW, you can buy matching dresses for your little girl as well as your American doll baby (Chloe received one of these at Christmas).

Totally Addicted!!

Ok, so yes, I am definetely loving this digital scrapbooking!! Hope you all enjoy looking at my creations because I sure like sharing them. Anyway, here it is. . .

My first digital scrap!!!

You can click on the picture to make it bigger.


So, I like the idea of scrapbooking and began really well, but. . . it goes a little slow. So, I read up on digital scrapbooking. I like the idea I can sit and do it at my computer without having to gather up all the supplies needed (especially since our space is so limited) and that I can change it around. There are still things I need to work out, but I kinda like this:)) Hope you do, too!

Christmas Round 3

And finally, there was Christmas Round 3. This past Friday, Jonathan's parents, Danny, Carol, and Cara arrived. We are not quite sure how there was room in the car for them with all the presents.

The kids enjoyed all the presents, but most importantly, they enjoyed the company! Again, we ate and ate and ate some more. It's amazing we were able to move on Sunday. The kids had lots of fun playing together and the adults enjoyed conversation (minus the men who went on a 3 hour shopping trip)!!

Christmas -- Round 1 and 2

Christmas Round 1 was quite a surprise. My mom left bags full of stuff for the kids. They were very excited with their new things. They enjoyed the puzzles and games that rainy afternoon while Chloe enjoyed her beautiful, new Bitty Baby. Both have matching dresses! Later in the week, they all enjoyed shopping for new clothes, shoes, and coats with the money she included. To be boys, they are quite selective in choosing clothes and like the preppy look. Thanks, Nama!

Then there was Christmas round 2. My dad aka Papa arrived Friday to celebrate Christmas with us. Little did he kow how exciting it would be. (I ended up in the ER with gall stones.) After that excitement, things died down and the normal fun was had. Dad, the kids, and I went shopping Christmas Eve and I am now the proud owner of a new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi 10.1 MP Digital SLR Camera!! I am enjoying this quite a bit. We attended Stafford Baptist for Christams Eve service. We have done this for the past several years. After this, we ate dinner at TGIFriday's--yea, I had a hard time with this being Christmas Eve dinner, but, you gotta do what you gotta do. From there, you can see the festives in pictures above. The kids had a great Christmas and were very excited about their gifts. We spent the day playing games, chiling in jammies, and eating!! What better way to spend Christmas day:))